blizzards brats and beer

Back from europe. cab at 4 am (or 5 am) from Utrecht to amsterdam. fly amsterdam to warsaw. fly the craziest flight of my life from warsaw to toronto. arrive 2 hours late. get excited about a delayed flight for the first time ever. until that delayed flight turn into a 3 hour delay. try to eat tim hortons. end up wanting to puke. fly toronto to chicago. get in a disgruntled cab home.

yesterday will likely go down in the books as the most ridiculous travel day of my life.

europe was cold. paris was on strike (the whole city. i'm serious) munich was full and delicious. andechs kloster beer is the best beer in europe. some of the best in the world actually. learned about nazis. sa an old man balance on a wine bottle. there was a blizzard. europe shut down. saw an amazing mondrian/picasso/cezzane exhibit in den haag, walked around in the snow alot. drank lots of "coffee" (which.. is a universal term for lots of different coffee based beverages). ate more bread then usual (which.. is alot). thought i had parisites. had a great time.

now it's time for christmas, and getting melissa settled in, and editing photos and videos, and trying to enjoy the rest of my vacation on what little money is left from europe. strikes and blizzards cause for alot of unexpected expenses.

merry christmas folks.

show tonight

The show at gold star is tonight. I'm showering for the first time in recent memory. i'm even gonna change this shirt i've been wearing for 3 days. it's gonna be a party. hopefully.

i'm showing more then i thought i could, which is rad.

I'm gonna break out the new flip cam and get some footage of the shenanigans...


worst case scenario i use it to bludgen my own head so this head ache goes away.

Upcomming group show

It's been awhile. mainly cause i've been busy. i bought a video camera. shit's about to get weird. either way all of that art work is starting to pay off...

December 5th, at 7pm, I will be in a group show at Gold Star Bar in Chicago (1755 W Division St, Chicago IL). I'm not really sure what the show is gonna be like, or what exactly i will show thanks to my work being HUGE, and this being a group show with limited room. Either way, I'm excited to be showing at home with some new artists, and showing some of the ridiculous amounts of crap i've been making. If you are in Chicago you should come. It is gonna be fun.

After the show, i'll be jumping across the Pond for a few weeks full of romantic adventure comedy. for good measure, we might throw some suspense in there. who knows.

Now i need to go sew some things. and turn off this new john mayer... what a let down.

new work! it's huge!

I cleaned up my studio the other day, and realized i had finished something like 11 paintings in the last few months. I'm pretty happy with almost all of them, which feels pretty good. Alot of these are moving into kind of a crazy direction that i'm still trying to figure out exactly, but i'm excited about where ever that is going. here is a handful of the things i've finished. I've your remotely interested in helping any of these find a home, let me know...


"I remember it being colder" 12"x20" (apx). acrylic, charcoal, and ink on canvas


"Fantastic" 30"x12". Acrylic, ink, on canvas


(Untitled) 55"x40". Acrylic, ink, oil stick, charcoal on canvas


"Castle and Cannons" 24"x24". ink on panel


"Have You Ever Had Screaming Children Chase You Down the Street Simply for the Fun of It?" 4'x6'. ink, enamel, and charcoal on panel


"Mark me Down as Whatever" 4.5'x4'. ink, collage on panel


"Why am I Not the Brave Bird" 5'x4'. ink, collage on panel.


Bird print. 12"x12". 3 color print, set of 15. White layer done by hand, so all 15 are completely different.

the snake the cross the crown documentary

A month or so ago i wrote up a big blog post about the Snake the cross the crown documentary. The film debuted this weekend at the louisville film festival, and is now up for preorder on the bands merch store. This is the ONLY way you can get it, but i promise you it is 100% worth whatever you spend on it. it comes with the DVD and an entire album of bsides, live tracks and alternate versions. These extra songs are just as amazing as everything on their previous records.

you can check out the extended trailer right here...




If you want information or would like to preorder it, head to these sites...

Watch trailer:
http://www.snakecrosscrown.com

Read more about the film:
http://www.equalvision.com/news/show/485

order it, watch it, show it to your friends.

new website!!

People,

i have a new website. i spent a ton of time on it (and to be completely honest, the new photo section still isn't complete, but who's counting?) and i think i'm proud of it... maybe?

in true zach clark fashion, it's already slightly out of date solely because of the speed i'm pumping out new work right now, but i'm gonna try to be on top of it this one. And i've got this blog you're reading.. so hopefully between the two, those of you who care to be can stay informed.

www.thegreatestescapist.com

If you've been to my old site, you'll probably have to reload the page for the new one to come up. internet caches are jerks like that..

times of transition

Dear chicago by ryan adams will be a good song forever.

It's the end of september. the air is getting crisper. I've started home improvements again.


i thought i had more to say then that.

i'm gonna go put my headphones on now.

new owen video

On the topic os listening to owen... watch this video... it's amazing

turning over new leaves. fall in chicago.

it's that time of year that the best season in chicago is upon us. you can ride your bike without getting disgusting, your don't need a heating blanket, and back yard fires are at the height of their practicality. It's a great time to be back in chicago and will most likely be the times i miss most once I leave.

Being that i'm back in chicago, I've been working like a mad man. Being able to work larger again has been like a drug. These all currently look like a fucking mess of non sense... and most likely some of them will stay there... but currently heres some works in progress.

I tend to work from the literature i've been reading, but failed foreign aid to africa isn't the most inspiring of topics. That being said, ive started to work more about myself, back in the days or touring, my weird dreams and obsessions of rats... i'm not sure exactly.

Either way, here they are with size info. Tell me what you think. I'm serious. unless you're just gonna tell me it looks "carolesque".. in that scenario just keep your god damn trap shut.

oh and.. Listen to owen, read a moveable feat, and stay away from hamms. i promise all of these things are in your best interest.

2.5'x1.5'


2'x'2


2.5'x1.5' apx


two canvases, each 5'x1'


5'x4'

stumped

ever hate everything you make? good. me too...

loose ends (clean out)

Lastly on my Clean out posts, there is a grip of stuff that just doesn't make sense in my body of work, is awkward, or for some other reason just won't make it to the website, but i like anyways... here they are...

mononivores rejects (clean out)

A few months back, i put up my show about corn called "The Mononivores", and had a handful of rejects that didn't end up making the cut for the show, and thus, won't be on my website...

figured i would post a few here....

original beer drawings (clean out)

I'm doing all the clean up and selecting of images and pieces for my new website, and am coming across alot of stuff i like, but don't have room for/don't fit with the rest of the site, but i still wanna put up somewhere...

I'm gonna do this in shifts... so the posts are at least somewhat cohesive...

First these are the original beer drawings that i used for the source images of my beer print set (which i still have a few for sale... hopefully i get a store figured out on my site one day...)

new shirts designs!

I did some new designs for my friend's band These green eye a few weeks ago. Pretty stoaked on both of them. They sent me some sample photos, so i thought i'd put em up.





Otherwise... working on the website still... it's getting put on the back burner while i finish up everything here in NYC before i go back to chicago. Can't believe 3 months went this quickly...


oh, and avoid southern tier's cremme brulee stout at all costs. bum out. I fully support all of their other beers tho. so drink those.

We got the money but we don't want the problems.

I'm writing this from a rather cramped seat on the mega bus from albany back home to NYC. I was extremely lucky to get out of the city this weekend and upstate to spend time with some great people, and have an overall artistically rejuvinating weekend.

we spent some time in a lake house in the mountains with a communal sleeping room. we had some great conversations about things i rarely think about anymore, but definitely got my mind moving. I got to hear and see some new things that got me realy excited.

one of the highlights of the weekend was getting a chance to see a near finished version of a documentary 2 years in the making about The Snake The Cross The Crown. Admittedly, this is one of my favorite bands, but i think it's a story all too true and common, and you don't need to know this band to have the words and feelings they talk about in this film move you. This is one of the most intimate films about a band and music i have ever seen. I think when this film comes out later this year it has the ability to really move a ton of people and make them think and put things in perspective. unfortunately, it most likely won't, whether that's me being a cynic or a realist i don't know, but that's what the entire film seems to be about. It will probably just be for a lucky few. All i do know is today I've got a fresh pair of eyes and ears in my head thanks to watching it. I truly believe that great art breeds more art. Often when i see or hear something that honestly moves me, it pushes me to want to try and create something incredible that might move someone even the slightest bit as much as the previous did for me. if nothing else it is atleast the catalyst. (After reading that, it seems kind of competitive. I don't think it's supposed to tho). Maybe that is all that matters...



I'm not excited to leave new york, but i'm excited to get this new year underway and see what i'm pushed to.

All we can do is hope for the best.... And stay positive.

something big

i have an idea crazy enough it might work.

site coming along

working my butt off on this new website. once i launched the skeleton i hated it. SO i guess that means it's good...

in less than awesome news, i finished all of my west wing dvds i have on hand today. time for something new

you totally ruined my birthday...

Ya ever have trouble sleeping? and then the next morning when you actually might finally be so exhausted you can actually fall asleep, you can't cause your sheets are at the laundromat and you have to go change them over in 45 minutes... and then get them out o the dryer 45 minutes after that? welcome to my life.

To be totally fair, i did sleep for about an hour last night, during which i had a dream that i was part of the astronaut crew in ALIENS, but half way thru our mission, i realized it was my birthday and i should go home to get everything ready for my party. once back to civilization i found out everyone was too drunk to come to my party, and even when i got home, my mom took the car, and left the house with all the doors and windows open with the lights on. Apparently i'm 13.

This is a regular occurrence, and there fore I provide for you a brief list of the events my brain has concocted to keep me unrested while trying to sleep

-A road trip in which we come across a rural brothel community. while there melissa lights a condo on fire and we get kicked out.

-while visiting a friend who lives above the ocean on a boardwalk, mutant basking sharks are killing sperm whales and waiting for the crews to come collect their bodies, only to then get attacked by mutant basking sharks. Also, i kept dropping my iphone in the ocean. how i kept getting new ones and why i kept dropping them is confusing to me

-a bar fight with a friend who is so drunk she has lost spinal structure, her ability to stay in a chair or keep her clothes on

-And most recently, i was on the 80's/90's scott bakula hit scifi drama quantum leap, and was sent in time to go to prom with a short haired girl who's parents died a week earlier, and to prepare myself for this, brandon and davis spade met me in a bathroom to tell me our friend's kid who doesn't exist had just died. my prom date and i slow danced and cried all night. for the record, if i would have stayed asleep i can only hope i would have shot thru a portal in time and ended up the chaquita banana woman... or on the run from an angry ex-husband who just finished his softball game.



All that being said. i still hate web design. but i'm trying. hopefully i'm sleeping soon too.

beaches and volcanos and rain forests

Since My website is going under a serious facelift and tummy tuck (actually.. it's getting bigger, so thats a bad analogy) I am posting some pieces and photos from costa rica for now...

here goes...

summer cleaning

it's that time of year...

cleaning out my hard drive, and my folders, and soon my servers. whipping things clean. getting rid of all the crap designs i have lying around no one has bought. maybe i'll just start giving them away? who needs some shitty merch designs?

anywho.. this is tough work that honestly numbs the brain. thank God i've got the west wing to get me thru this. That and lots of costa rican coffee.


In other notes, i'm bringing the dream journal back. I've been having hands down the weirdest twisted dreams probably of my life the last week or so, and i need to get them out of my head. I think i might actually make a better/bigger dream zine when soon with all this stuff... look out david lynch, i'm coming for you.

it's been awhile....

made it back from foreign and domestic travels abroad. Time to get to serious work...

look here for some pictures and potentially hilarious anticdotes about costa rica.

Look at www.thegreatestescapist.com for a new website soon with alot more content, a much more attractive design, and maybe even a site navgation system that isn't a giant piece of shit. we can only hope...


check ya later

leaving to meet some monkeys

If you didn't know, i love monkeys. i might love monkeys more then anything ever, except lemurs.

that said, in about 12 hours i'm getting on a plane to costa rica to see some monkeys, and maybe even eat some fish. don't worry about it...


so i hope you don't miss me... altho i doubt you will even notice i'm gone....

new york in june

Made it to NYC. This will be my home base for the next few months.

i think i'm gonna take a mandatory art break for a few days. i've got some kind of silly ideas floating in my head, but i'm gonna let them stew for a bit and see what happens.

thought about going to FIGMENT today on governors island, but have decided against it... maybe i'll be up for it tomorrow.


I went to a play last night, and a guy who home brewed had his beer on tap and was selling it. pretty tasty brew, but i really wish i could figure out what it is we home brewers do that makes the taste so obviously home brewed. as for the play, it was 2 separate one man/woman shows. definitely interesting an got me thinking how exactly they were connected. unfortunately however, theater just does not communicate for me the same way it used to.

denver art sale.

Denver ended up being pretty successful. I now have a really gnarly cold tho. not as awesome.

I have several sets of my beer print edition and a few pieces of my "ground water..." series still available, and i'm really happy with them and would like to find them some nice owners.

The beer series, is a set of 6 2 color screen prints, all 8.5"x5.5" in size. Edition of 25. each set runs $35 a piece (plus shipping)




the remaining ground water panels all come in at 12"x12", and are silk screen and india ink, charcoal, and paper on wood panel. All pieces will be $125 (plus shipping)

Ground water. Above/Below. Night/Day (H)


Ground water. Above/Below. Night/Day (E)


Ground water. Above/Below. Night/Day (D)


Ground water. Above/Below. Night/Day (A)



Let me know if you are interested. thegreatestescapist@gmail.com

serious like a heart attack

another day of working at the suburban home office to tie everything together. making pieces and then traveling with them incomplete for travel sake is kind of silly.

either way, i thought i might as well atleast put a sample of what some of these pieces are gonna look like.

i'm working with the idea's of the city for this show, lots of simple line work, but with some bold color choices, and a heavy emphasis on alot of found source materials to create an added texture. This specific piece below is 1 of an 8 part series, and weighs in at 12"x12". not everything i'm making looks like this, but it's a good jump off.

for anyone not in the know yet... the show is THIS FRIDAY. the information is below...

SUBURBAN HOME FIRST FRIDAY
Friday, June 5, 2009
6:00pm - 10:00pm

Location:
LEGWORK (2nd floor of the Figherfighters association building)
2342 Broadway St.
Denver, CO

The event is also sponsored by oskar blues brewery, the fine makers of Dale's Pale Ale, Old Chub, Ten Fiddy and many more, so hopefully either the art or the delicious beer will get you to the show.

now.. i need to buy lumber, and go eat a ridiculous meal.

i used to be clever...

i spent all day today at the suburban home offices watching the west wing and trimming, signing, and numbering over 150 prints for friday. how this took 6 hours is beyond me, but it's done. tomorrow i'll be cutting wood and bracing my panels. Once that is done i will be completely done just in time for the show friday. Now that i'm in denver and working on finishing everything up i'm really excited for the show. i think the turn out should be pretty great. If not, there will atleast be a weekend full of good beer in my future.



now go watch the west wing.

safe away

made it to denver. trying to recoop. not doing very well. tonight or tomorrow i get to work on the final touches for all my pieces going up friday. more on that later.

print days....

silkscreening is seriously one of the most physically and emotionally draining activities i partake in. i swear to god it's 90% magic. how else can you explain 3 screens being exposed for the same time giving three different results.

needless to say, finishing my "traditional" pieces for denver first friday (june 5th!), has just opened up all my time to focus on my print series edition melissa and i came up with to finish around the show. the fact the blackhawks were a complete embarasment today doesn't help matters much either.

exhaustion.

I was computerless for a week. I've also been working like a total mad man. i as of now have finished 2 large paintings, a nice small canvas, and 8 12x12 panels. Left on the docket it my series of prints, which is becoming a much bigger bitch of a project then i originally intended.... oh well.

i'll try and put some pictures up later.

now i need to get back to work...

JR

if you aren't familiar with JR yet. you need to be. any of you who read wooster collective or other street art blogs are probably in the know about him already... either way, i can't stop looking at his work, and it is seriously some of the most amazing stuff going on right now....

here is his site: http://jr-art.net/

bloody neighbor.

i spent all day yesterday in a tattoo shop seeing my friend jon get a giant boat tattoo from our friend kyle. while there i hammered out the last sketches for my denver stuff...

so today, i'm finally getting to work. feels pretty great. lots of gesso everywhere... i'm about to experiment with coloring my gesso for this hideous painting i'm painting over. not even documenting it's existence first. but i'm stoaked about denver now. got some big pieces coming, and some small extremely affordable pieces that i might put up on my etsy or even build a shop on my website if they don't sell. they are gonna be hot!

so back to work. enjoy today. drink some beer. listen to as cities burn. call your grandma incase you forgot to on mothers day. cause i did. then she called to yell at me this morning.

prognosis negative

turns out i don't have gal bladder sludge, infact the doctor called me today to tell me all of my tests came back 100% healthy. looks like this guy is going uninsured for the next 3 months. i'll just hold on to the bengay.

i'm in NYC for the week. Melissa and I are waiting to hear from a friend for lunch. thought i'd take this time to post some pictures from the mononivore show for everyone who couldn't make it...

a couple of low quality gallery views...





all images are silk screen and india ink on gessoed paper. each panel is 18x24 to give you an idea of the scale....